The Creator and the Faker
by Zero-Sennin
Summary: One-shot, AU. A woman who had ascended to the height of power, and gave everything to protect the world she had inherited. A no-talent magus with unknown skills, who wished to fulfill his father's old dream and to assuage his own guilt. This is a glimpse into how their partnership began.


_This story contains spoilers related to Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth and Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria._

_Reader discretion is advised._

* * *

_The Creator and the Faker_

_A Fate/stay night and Valkyrie Profile One-Shot Crossover_

_Written by Zero-Sennin_

* * *

"I am servant Saber, and I have answered your summons. Are you, young man, my Master?"

The woman that stood in front of Shirou Emiya as he sat stupefied on the floor of his shed spoke those words without the slightest hesitation. She seemed to be almost ethereal, a stark contrast to the grimness and solidity of the man in blue that had nearly killed Shirou again moments before.

Her silver hair was at least long enough to reach her calves, but was braided at the small of her neck on down, and bound at the end with a simple red tie. She wore an open-top helmet with a beak-like visor and four beautiful white feathers attached to a circular ornament on each side. Her armor, complete with huge pauldrons, covered the top half of her body, and was colored blue, trimmed with gold. She wore a closed white dress, with a number of golden rectangular ornaments hanging from its hem; it flowed like liquid around her steel-booted legs, occasionally exposing a flash of bare leg.

A simple sword of Western make was in her right hand, and a sheath matching her armor sat on her left hip. Her bluish-green eyes regarded Shirou calmly and kindly, with the age and wisdom of a grown woman.

"I don't understand," Shirou replied, staring up at her. His once-pierced heart continued to beat sluggishly, and the slight stickiness of dried blood on his chest did not fade. "Saber? Master?"

The neutral expression on her face changed slightly, into a soft frown. However, she did not further press the issue of Shirou's confusion, and instead, turned toward the hole in the shed, facing the man in blue that had sprung away from Shirou the moment she appeared and stopped the man's blood-red spear from piercing Shirou's chest again. When she did so, Shirou's left hand began to burn, and with a hiss, he clenched it into a fist. However, this only caused the woman to say aloud, "Our contract is made, Master. Allow me to begin my service to you properly." She narrowed her eyes slightly at the man in blue. "Come, Lancer. Prepare yourself."

The now-named Lancer sucked a tooth, and shifted slightly. The spear tilted downward, and his legs tensed. "Of course it'd be Saber," he muttered, eying the sword that had just thwarted him. "Just my luck, eh? Well I suppose it can't be helped." His silver earrings flashed in the moonlight. "Well, girl? Are you going to move or shall I?"

Saber took a few steps forward. Her iron boots crunched in the dirt when she stopped walking and pushed her legs apart slightly. Then, she slid forward and slashed downward, clearly intending to split Lancer in two.

The lance shifted again, and blocked the blow. Yet, as gentle as the attack looked, the collision caused sparks to flash and fly and Lancer was pushed backward while his wild blue hair stood up on end. Without even pausing, Saber advanced again, then again, then again, moving with speed and without wasting any effort. Every step she took was followed by a causal swing, and yet Lancer felt his arms quiver as he met her strikes. He knew that he was in her element more than his, and that she needed to be pushed back to mid-range before he could win, but her movements were keeping her too close for that to happen.

Then, there was a chance. Saber went for a side strike instead of an overhead one, and Lancer parried it, then pushed against it. She kept her sword but was thrown off balance. That gave him enough time to thrust his spear like a red needle straight at her heart—and it hit a floating blue and gold shield that had not been there before.

Saber's expression remained undisturbed as Lancer took a smooth half-step back and she regained her balance. She lowered her left hand, and the shield vanished shortly after that. Lancer gave her a wolfish grin, opening his red eyes wide. "Interesting little defense, Saber! And that swordplay of yours is interesting as well." Veins in his hands bulged as he gripped his spear even tighter. "Are you going to get serious, though? You can hit harder than that, can't you?"

Saber said nothing, then put her other hand onto the grip of her sword. Shirou had since managed to stop staring at the fight and actually make his way out of the shed, and the moment that Saber put two hands on that sword, he felt ice run through his veins.

Everything in her stance screamed "I will not show you mercy."

Then, Saber moved.

She did not step. She did not slide. She simply shifted her feet a little bit, and in the space of a breath, she was in Lancer's face, swinging down at Lancer with a smooth, powerful stroke. Lancer did not take the blow, but dodged it and thrust his spear at her unprotected side. The shield blocked the blow again, and she swung out once more, refusing to slow or flinch. Lancer stepped aside again, and with this new opening, thrust his spear at her head. Without a word or a gesture from her, the shield defended her once more, but in the process a new blind spot was made in her field of vision.

With this new opportunity, Lancer let out a harsh, barking laugh and stabbed at Saber's foot. In his mind, she could not dodge, and he applauded himself for fooling her.

Yet she did, stepping back as the red spear thrust into the ground where her right foot had been, then slashed out once more while his guard was down.

Lancer said nothing, but the half-enraged, half-eager look on his face and the gash trailing down his cheek made his feelings clear enough.

When Saber spoke again, her voice was filled with an utmost calm, but Shirou did not feel the ice in his body melt when he heard her words. If anything, it flowed twice as thick again. "If you were facing a lesser opponent, they would have been taken in by that trick almost instantly. Do you truly think that little of my skill, Lancer?"

"As a rule, you try everything in a battle," Lancer said, straightening up slightly. "Well, anything that doesn't make you look like a shitty dog. Which makes what I'm about to do really frustrating." The bloodthirsty expression gradually began to ease up, becoming a scowl. "My Master gave me some very specific orders, and I'm basically screwed if I don't listen. You've proven dangerous enough that I shouldn't push what I can do with those orders." For the briefest moment, he flashed a strong smile. "But now I think I've got your measure. You won't be so lucky next time, Saber."

His legs tensed up, and with a leap, he was over the wall of the Emiya compound. Saber moved to follow, but paused halfway through her step, shaking her head. "He's fleet-footed. I could pursue him, but he could be drawing me off into a trap." She turned to Shirou as he stumbled out of the shed, shaking his head. "Shall I go, Master?"

"Wh-what?" Shirou asked. "No, forget that. You have to explain to me what's actually going on here! I don't know what you're talking about when you say Master and Servant in the first place!"

Saber's stern expression gradually faded as she looked at the sheer confusion on Shirou's face. After a moment, she nodded, and looked toward the main house. "Then shall we go inside? I am more than willing to explain what I know if you truly wish to know what you've become a part of."

Shirou nodded, and led the way to the dining room.

* * *

For her part, Saber was rather impressed by the furnishings in Shirou's home. She had never quite seen a place furnished like this, but it reminded her slightly of the few domiciles she had seen in Hai-Lan, mostly because of the matted floor. And yet, there were many furnishings and items in Shirou's home that were nothing like anything she had seen in Midgard. She knew them all by name (light bulb, light switch, television) as she looked at them, and she understood their functions, but did not know _how_ she knew them. The lack of actual chairs around the dining room table, in particular, was the most novel thing she'd seen. Shirou had sat down in a particular manner on one side of the table, tucking his legs under him, so she did the same. A slight draft came in from a nearby broken window, but Shirou paid it no mind, and Saber did her best to ignore it as well.

Most troubling, though, was the knowledge that she had promised to share with Shirou. She had not ever spoken the words "Servant" and "Master" in the way that she had today, and yet she now ascribed to them a meaning that she had never once considered. She did not know how she knew of this Holy Grail War and the most pertinent of its mechanics, nor did she particularly like the idea of the Holy Grail in the first place, based on the information she had about it.

Saber firmly believed that a thing like the Holy Grail could not and should not exist in any world. The benefits that it supposedly offered were too good to be true.

And yet she'd been called here to obtain that item she did not believe in, nor wish to believe in, on Shirou's behalf.

"So let's start from the start," Shirou said. "You called me a Master, and introduced yourself as a Servant. What exactly does that mean?"

Saber met his eyes firmly. "I have been called here to act as your Servant because you, a Master, have been chosen to participate in the Holy Grail War. It is a contest between seven Masters and their Servants to determine who is worthy of claiming the Holy Grail. The winner of the Grail War will be allowed to make a single wish on the Grail."

Shirou's skin paled, and he shook his head. He was not a Christian, but even he knew of the Grail's legend. "The Holy Grail? What? Something like that can't be..."

"Cannot be real?" Saber asked. "Frankly speaking, I believe so too. It is not so much the Grail's existence that I doubt, but its power." She frowned, and Shirou could feel the distaste radiating from her body. "The power to make a singular wish is too easily misused, and nothing in this world comes without a price attached to it."

The room was silent for a few moments after that, and Shirou eventually broke it by looking down at the back of his left hand. Inscribed there was a strange three-piece tattoo, with the head of a fleur-de-lis, a strange rectangular shape as the middle, and a diamond that stretched back to just past his wrist. He raised his hand and showed the tattoo to Saber with furrowed brows. "What exactly is this?"

"Those are your Command Spells. They represent the contract between us as Master and Servant," Saber said. "Using those Command Spells, you may make three absolute requests of me, and I will be compelled to obey them at risk of damaging my health. Once all three have been used up, our contract remains valid, but by the same token, you lose your leverage over me. Command Spells are capable of quite a lot, so it is foolish to waste them."

Despite—or perhaps, because of—how calmly she spoke, Shirou felt something flare in his stomach at Saber's words. "Lose my leverage...? Why would I want to even force you into anything? If we're Master and Servant, shouldn't we be working together?"

Saber shook her head. "There are cases where a Master deliberately summons a specific Servant by using a 'catalyst', but that Servant turns out to have poor compatibility with the Master and causes trouble. In that case, the Master might need Command Spells to make sure that the Servant is willing to obey, even if it is only the threat to use one." Sensing Shirou's nervousness building, she smiled gently at him. "However, you are correct. Command Spells need not be used to force obedience if the Master and the Servant have a high compatibility. In fact, they can be used to momentarily achieve things otherwise impossible, like boosting my strength or calling me to your side instantly."

Shirou's kinked eyebrows relaxed slightly, and he nodded, returning Saber's smile. "Yeah, something like that seems all right to me. So that leaves only two questions. What exactly is a Servant, and why is it that you introduced yourself as Saber?"

With the knowledge implanted in her mind, Saber was able to answer the first question quickly and easily. "A Servant, to put it simply, is a Heroic Spirit, a legendary figure from history. Someone that is renowned for their great deeds, such that people still speak of them in the modern day, such as, say, Musashi Miyamoto, or King Arthur. They are called forth by the Holy Grail and put under the command of a Master." She shifted slightly as she answered the second question. "As for why I answer to the name 'Saber', the reasoning is two-fold. Earlier, I said to you that there are seven Masters in the Grail War, correct?"

Shirou nodded again. "Yes. So that means there are seven Servants."

"Exactly," Saber replied. "And each Servant summoned by each master possesses different attributes. These attributes correspond to one of seven 'classes' that exist to diversify the talent and type of Servants that participate in the war." She raised her right hand and her index finger. "For instance, I was summoned into the 'Saber' class because of my skill with a blade and my talent for movement related to such." She raised her right middle finger as well. "The man from before, 'Lancer', is likely a hero that has both great skill with the spear and the ability to move quickly. Then we have 'Archer', who is skilled at ranged attacks, 'Rider', who is skilled at mounted combat, 'Caster', who is skilled at magic, 'Assassin', who possesses stealth and agility, and 'Berserker', who is a physical powerhouse." As she named each Servant after Lancer, Saber raised another digit on her right hand, eventually adding her left index and left middle fingers to the count. When Shirou nodded his understanding, she lowered her hands onto her lap and continued. "The most vital thing for a Master and a Servant to protect outside of the Master's life is the Servant's true identity as a Heroic Spirit. If this information is discovered by an enemy Master or an enemy Servant, then—"

"—it becomes possible for the enemy to plan how to capitalize on any weaknesses that the Servant has," Shirou said. "It makes sense. So instead of calling the Servant by their real name, you call them by the class that they were summoned into."

"In my case, I have reason to believe that my identity will not be so easily discerned from my name," Saber replied. "Therefore, Master, if you wish to know my name, I can give it to you."

"First off, just Shirou is fine, there's no need to call me Master all the time," Shirou replied, holding up a hand. "As for calling you by your real name...if you're comfortable sharing that with me, then I'm willing to do so."

Saber smiled at him again, then reached up and gently pulled off her helmet, placing it at her side. With it gone, Shirou could see that her hair was cut into a neat fringe of bangs just above her eyebrows, and something about her stoic nature seemed to vanish. In an odd way, Shirou could say definitively that her aura was motherly. "My name is Lenneth, Shirou."

Shirou spoke slowly, trying to repeat the name exactly as he had heard it."Lenneth...it's a strange name, but I like it. It suits you." He managed a shy grin. "Then, Lenneth. It's good to meet you. Let's be great partners."

Lenneth nodded once, then replaced her helmet. "I know we will be." Her smile began to wane, but her presence remained easy. "Now...about the matter of the Grail itself..."

Her voice trailed off mid-sentence, and her body tensed up. Shirou immediately saw the icy mask slide back over her face, and as she stood up, so did he. "Lenneth, what is it?"

"A Master and a Servant are on their way here," she replied. "They have yet to come within distance of the wards placed around this house, but I can sense them coming."

Shirou immediately began to make his way to the front door of the house. "Then let's go out to meet them. Hopefully we can warn them off with a little show of force like what you did to Lancer. I'd rather not fight anyone just yet."

Lenneth physically cut him off in the blink of an eye, blocking his way forward. When Shirou met her eyes, he was cowed into silence by how cold and dispassionate they were. "Master Shirou. I am willing to do this, but you must understand one thing if nothing else. You must stay alert of your surroundings if I get into a fight with this other Servant. Their Master is with them, as well, which means that you could be targeted by the Master and killed. If that were to happen, my contract would be dissolved, and I would not be able to sustain a form in this world. My duty is to protect you, so allow me to do so."

Her eyes did not narrow, nor did her tone of voice change, but Shirou could feel the words shaking him down to his core as he read into her words. She was basically throwing herself out there as a shield against whatever Servant she had to face, and was expecting Shirou to accept that, not to shoulder her burden.

For him, that was simply impossible.

"I know you're stronger than me," Shirou replied. "But I won't sit and let you do all the work. If I see that I can do something, I'll do it. I don't need a reason to try and help someone, even if they say they don't need my help."

Lenneth was quiet for a moment or two after that, but after a while she turned away and stepped aside. "Lead the way, Shirou," she said, and her voice was soft and unassuming again. "I am more likely to waste time getting lost than finding my way to the front."

Shirou immediately did as she asked, and together, they made their way to the front door and stepped out into the cool night air once again. However, when Shirou went to open the gate, Lenneth grabbed his hand and pulled him back, putting her other finger to her lips when he opened his mouth to protest. A sudden pain in his left hand—the burning of his Command Spells—caused him to flinch, but he did not cry out. Moments later, he heard a girl's voice on the other side of the wall. A familiar voice—one that he was able to identify instantly, even as he sorely wished he could not.

"They're nearby, Archer," the voice said, her voice muffled slightly by the wall between her and Shirou. It was soft, and still carried the slightly-haughty tones that he normally heard in it. "But to think that Emiya-kun was a magus, let alone a Master...that fake priest will have a field day if he finds out about this."

Mentally, Shirou was in complete disarray.

Rin Tohsaka, the most popular and successful student at his school, had been a magus this entire time, and if his fuzzy memories from the school were any indication, it had been her voice he'd heard as he'd been lying in the hall, dying from Lancer's attack. That meant that she had saved him. There was no other way for him to have lived.

She had saved his life, and now she would try to take it away from him.

Shirou's thoughts were interrupted by two things. The first was the absence of Lenneth's hand gripping his wrist, and the second was the clash of steel on steel, followed by Rin's voice shrieking out. Immediately, Shirou rushed to the gate and pushed it open.

As Shirou had expected, Lenneth had already attacked. A man with spiked up white hair and brown skin, wearing red and black—probably Archer—stood in front of Rin, blocking Lenneth's single sword with a pair of Chinese dao, one black and one white. Shirou's arrival on the scene caused Rin to gasp out, "Emiya-kun?", but before she could act, Lenneth pushed against Archer and forced him into Rin, knocking them both back.

"Wait a second, L...Saber," Shirou shouted, moving to his Servant's side. He had almost let Lenneth's real name slip out. "Let's try to talk first! I know that Master!"

Archer immediately got up, allowing Rin to stand as well.

Lenneth did not advance from her position, but she did not lower her sword, either.

For her part, Rin simply fixed Shirou with a puzzled stare. A slight wind blew at the dark pigtails at the side of her head, and ruffled the black ribbons that tied them. "I never figured you to be the type to talk, Emiya-kun. Nor the type to give up an advantage so quickly. What's your angle?"

"Right now, Tohsaka, there is no angle," Shirou said to her, folding his arms and frowning in her direction. "There are too many things I don't understand about this Grail War. Saber explained some of it to me, but I never even meant to summon a Servant in the first place. I can barely do magecraft, and Lancer's nearly killed me twice tonight." He fidgeted slightly, realizing that he was still dressed in the ruined uniform, and mention of Lancer made both Lenneth and Rin flinch. "I don't want to fight you. I just want answers."

Rin's expression lightened slightly, but she still looked at Shirou with understandable wariness. "You never meant to summon a Servant?" she asked. "Do you really mean to tell me that you got involved in the Grail War accidentally? If that's the case, why did you send Saber to attack me just now?"

"She did that on her own," Shirou replied, giving Lenneth a harsh glare for a moment. "She sensed you coming."

The air remained tense and still. Archer's gray eyes and Rin's aqua-blue ones bored directly into Shirou's, completely ignoring Lenneth, while Lenneth kept her focus solely on Rin and Archer.

It was Rin that broke the silence with a sigh and a shake of her head. "Archer, stand down."

Archer's voice was normally a smooth baritone, but there was clear displeasure in it when he replied to his Master. "Rin. This isn't a good idea."

"I may not know Emiya-kun that well," Rin said, folding her arms, "but I do know that he's a terrible liar. If he was trying to mislead us, it would have been written all over his face, and I would have put a Gandr through his eyeball by now." She smiled, but it made Shirou's skin crawl and tremble. "All right, Emiya-kun. How about we go inside and talk, if you want to talk so badly?

* * *

A few moments later, Rin was sitting at Shirou's dining table, on the side where Lenneth had been sitting moments before. Shirou sat opposite her, but Lenneth stood behind him, and Archer stood behind Rin. The two Servants were glaring at each other, seemingly oblivious to the conversation that their masters were having.

The windows behind Shirou had been broken when he had dived through them to escape Lancer. Now, though, they were back to normal as if they had never been broken in the first place. This was thanks to Rin, who had put a drop of her blood on one of the glass shards, spoken a few words, and caused the windows to repair themselves in the twinkling of an eye. Shirou had been audibly impressed by the feat, and Rin's response was to stare at him blankly when he admitted that he couldn't do anything similar.

After that, they'd sat down, and Shirou had told her everything that had happened to him that day—staying late to work on something for his friend Issei, stepping out into the schoolyard to see a fierce battle between Archer and Lancer, running back into the school, getting cornered by Lancer, and getting stabbed in the heart.

"...so when I woke up in the hallway," Shirou said, "I immediately came back here, but Lancer followed me. I got as far as my shed by diving through the windows—" here, he gestured to the once-shattered windows in question—"and when I got there, Lancer had me cornered. He tried to stab me again, but some kind of magic circle activated, and Saber appeared. She drove Lancer off, then explained the basics of the Grail War to me. That was when she sensed you two approaching."

Despite herself, Rin had found herself at least slightly interested by Shirou's story. According to him, he had no talent as a magus, and was only capable of reinforcement and projection—basic and otherwise unremarkable schools of thaumaturgy. So how had he summoned Saber, of all Servants, with a magic circle that he hadn't known was in his workshop? If Shirou hadn't been an abominable liar, she would never have been willing to believe him.

But she'd said it herself—it would have been written all over his face if he was trying to lie.

He wasn't trying to deceive her.

And, on top of that, he had made Saber stop attacking her and Archer, when he didn't have to. She couldn't spit in his face by acting as if he were putting up some grand show to make her lower her guard.

"My, my, Emiya-kun," she said aloud. "That was quite a story. All right then. Since you're so lost, I'll honor this little truce you seem so eager to make, at least for tonight. You say you don't know anything about the Grail War aside from the basics, correct? Then I'll take you to someone who can give you all the information you need." Her face soured. "He's a little difficult to deal with, but you'd have to go meet him anyway, considering that you're a Master now. At least this way, we can kill two birds with one stone—my debt to you will be repaid and you will know exactly what you've gotten into. Is that fair?"

"That's fine," Shirou said. "We're not quite even, though. You did save me at the school, after all, and by taking me to wherever this is, that's another favor I owe you."

"We're not going to go in circles about this," Rin muttered, shaking her head as she stood up. "Just consider it even, Emiya-kun. Now, come, let's go. The church is a half hour away from here on foot."

Being reminded about how she had used up the power stored in the pendant that now sat in the pocket of her red overcoat made her feel sick to her stomach. It had been one of the last things her father had left to her, and she'd thrown its power away to save her enemy.

Yet, she didn't regret it nearly as much as she thought she would have. Shirou hadn't meant to see what he had seen, and he most certainly didn't deserve to die for a mistake like that.

To be a magus meant that one walked with death.

Shirou knew that now, but before now, he had not.

Now that he understood that fact, Rin owed him nothing. With her debt repaid, Rin would never have to do this for him again. With her debt repaid, Rin could face him on the battlefield, Master to Master, and defeat him. But she knew, deep down, that she didn't want to kill him after saving him. If it came down to either killing Saber to defeat him or killing him to defeat Saber, she would take the former option a million times over unless it was literally "his life or hers".

For a moment, Rin glanced at Saber, and the silver-haired Servant's blue-green eyes met hers without wavering.

And if Saber saw anything in Rin's eyes that resembled doubt, she didn't say a word.

* * *

Shirou didn't know why, but he truly hated the church the moment he set foot inside of it.

As Rin had said, it was indeed a half hour walk from his house in Miyama City to the newer construction in Shintou, across the bridge and up the hill to where the church sat.

But that distance most definitely wasn't why he hated that church the moment he set foot inside of it. The place itself was pleasant-looking enough, filled with neat rows of wooden pews that faced an immaculately clean altar.

If there was a singular reason that Shirou could identify, it was probably the priest.

The priest was a tall, dark man, with brown hair long enough to resemble a mullet, and a fairly healthy build. His facial features were sharp and austere, but calm. He seemed to be at total peace and equilibrium with the world. Yet, his eyes were hollow, hollower than anything Shirou had ever seen before; a dull brown color that appeared to take in and reflect no light at all.

No person could have eyes that hollow and still be called human, let alone be called a priest. Something about the man just instinctively set Shirou on edge.

Lenneth had followed Shirou and Rin into the church, and she was clearly uneasy as well. She stared directly at the priest much like she had with Rin, Archer, and Lancer, but her lip was slightly curled and her eyes were narrowed very slightly. However, she no longer cut a very intimidating figure, as she was wearing a tan-colored dress with blue pants and brown boots, as well as a dark brown mantle draped over her shoulders and a blue scarf around her neck. She had magically transformed her armor into these clothes before they left for the church, as unlike Archer, she could not take on an astral form and become invisible.

Even Rin was clearly discomfited by the priest's presence, and simply stood beside Shirou with her arms folded, scowling. The priest, however, ignored this blatant show of hostility from both Lenneth and Rin, and spoke without even the slightest trace of worry. "Why, Rin. It's been some time since last I saw you." His voice was deep and measured, possessed of the same unflappable calm that his posture held. "Is it so difficult to take time out to come and see your old mentor? Or perhaps my calls did make it through to you after all...?"

"They did, but that's not why I'm here, Kirei," Rin replied. She waved a hand in Shirou's direction. "He's the seventh Master. Barely a magus, but he's still got the Command Spells. He needs a thorough education about this Grail War. His Servant told him the basics, but that's about it."

The priest chuckled. "Well, if it's something like that, then it's no trouble." He slid his gaze back to Shirou. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Kirei Kotomine. I am the mediator assigned by the Church to watch over the Holy Grail War, and the keeper of this church. What is your name, young man?"

"Shirou Emiya," Shirou said.

For the first time since he had come into the church, Shirou saw Kotomine's expression change. Rather than the dull half-smile that seemed to be painted on his lips, Kotomine seemed to almost grin for the briefest of moments, and time seemed to slow down. Shirou felt his heart almost stop at the sight, but he was snapped out of his daze by the sound of Lenneth's boot shifting on the floor.

And, just like that, the moment of dreadful oddity passed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Shirou Emiya," Kotomine replied. "As I said earlier, I supervise the Grail War. By proxy, I am capable of answering any and all questions that you have about it. What exactly do you wish to know?"

The question gave Shirou pause for a few moments. He already understood "why" the Masters would want the Holy Grail. So what did he truly not understand about the Grail War?

The church was quiet for a few moments as Shirou thought about that question.

Eventually, he found his answer.

"...why do the Masters have to fight and kill each other for the Grail?" Shirou asked. "What's the point of the Grail War itself?"

"The Grail War is simply a trial to see who is worthy of obtaining the Grail," Kotomine said. "Its power can only be granted to one person, and in the end, that person is as much chosen by the Grail as they choose to pursue it." He spread his hands out. "The Grail is capable of granting a miracle to the one that claims it. And it should only be that 'one' who receives the miracle. Therefore, the Grail War is meant to decide who that 'one' is, amongst the seven Masters."

"That doesn't answer my question," Shirou said. His fists clenched, and his teeth were set in an angry grimace. "Why do other Masters have to die? What point is there in trying to claim something like the Holy Grail if you have to kill other people to do it?"

"...that's not the way this works, Emiya-kun," Rin replied. Shirou turned to look at her, and saw the slight annoyance on her face. "You have to understand that the Grail itself is as much a spiritual construct, or more so, than a physical one. Therefore, only Servants can claim it. And despite how powerful they are, Servants can still be killed—mostly, by other Servants. If that's the case, then do you really think you absolutely have to kill a Master in order to make sure that they can't get the Grail?"

Shirou picked apart Rin's argument in his head, and, seeing what she was saying, nodded. "...It would be enough to just defeat the Servant, then."

Rin nodded. "You don't have to kill the Master if you don't want to. But if you're so softhearted, then you may wind up paying the price for it in a situation where you can't defeat the Servant no matter what you do."

"Moreover," Kotomine added, "as long as a Master possesses Command Spells, he is still a Master. And not all Servants so easily disappear if their Masters are slain. There is no doubt that the Servant will eventually disappear, but it is possible for Servants to endure without a Master to some extent. Therefore, if there were a situation in which Servant A lost their Master A and Master B no longer had Servant B, Servant A and Master B could form a new contract and remain in the war."

_So then you kill a Master to make sure that doesn't happen,_ Shirou thought. _It just so happens to be the __most convenient way to stop other Servants as well. _He fought to keep a wave of nausea from making him physically ill. _Disgusting..._

Kotomine chuckled so softly that Shirou almost hadn't heard it, but when he refocused his attention on the priest, Kotomine's expression was back to normal.

Something about that just made Shirou's blood boil.

"As Rin said," Kotomine said, "softhearted behavior may be your undoing in the end. But it is your decision."

"What if I choose to quit the Grail War, then? Use up all of my Command Spells and wash my hands of the whole thing? What's stopping me from doing that?"

Shirou's question echoed through the halls of the church, and for a time, Kotomine stood silently, as if contemplating that himself. Before Shirou could allow himself to think that he'd finally outsmarted the man, Kotomine simply sighed. "Nothing. But it would be a foolish gesture, would it not? The chance to have any wish that you desire cannot be something so lightly thrown away. Nor can the consequences of a wish gone awry, or a wish claimed by one of a specific temperament. The victorious Master of the previous Grail War...I do not know what he wished for, but in the end, he refused the Grail and caused a great tragedy, a flame that consumed many, many lives."

Both Rin and Shirou froze at Kotomine's words, but for different reasons.

For Rin, the idea that someone had won the Grail War before and yet had thrown away their wish was inconceivable. And, on a deeper level, it shook her to the core that in the end...in the end, someone that she had admired, someone whose ideals and legacy she had inherited, had died during that Grail War for nothing at all.

Her father had died during that Grail War for nothing at all, and this city, the place she was "responsible" for as the Second Owner, had paid the price for even hosting the war.

For Shirou, the fact that Kotomine had said "the previous Grail War" had not escaped his notice. However, that was not the thing that froze him so deeply to the spot, nor the thing that shook him down to the core.

It was the word "flame".

The fire of ten years ago was the only thing Kotomine could have been talking about. The fire that had nearly killed Shirou Emiya. The fire that Kiritsugu Emiya had rescued Shirou from. The fire that had shattered any chance for Shirou to ever recognize the importance of "self" amongst "others", and that had partially given him his only dream, his only ideal.

"...The Fuyuki Fire was a result of a Grail War before this one."

When Shirou said this, it unintentionally came out as a statement of fact and not a question. However, Kotomine either didn't care, or realized what Shirou's true intention had been in making said statement, and nodded in response to Shirou.

"How many Grail Wars have there been before this one?"

"Four," Kotomine said. "The first two were not supervised by the Church, but the brutalities that the Masters descended into could have exposed magecraft to the world. Therefore, the Church stepped in to supervise the third War with two goals—to moderate it, and to confirm that the Grail that appears is a true one. There have been five hundred and twenty-seven claims of the 'Holy Grail' appearing before, and should the true Grail appear, it is the Church's duty to observe it. Similarly, if the Grail is false, it is the Church's duty to destroy it."

"Then why didn't the Church stop the Master from the Fourth War from making his wish?" Shirou shouted. The volume in his voice caused Rin to flinch back from him, and Lenneth's steely expression softened as she looked at him. "What gave the Church the right to let someone so dangerous gain the Grail?"

"In the end, when the Grail is claimed, it is claimed, and there is nothing the Church can do to change that if the Master has obeyed all the rules of the war," Kotomine replied, never once raising his voice. "The one who claimed the Grail last time was a man that chose to avoid the battlefield while remaining in the confines of the rules. Regardless of his methods, he claimed it nevertheless, and the moment he did, his fate was out of the Church's hands. If you do not like the possibility that another Master like him could claim the Grail, then you only need to claim it yourself under the terms of the rules set out for the war. If you truly wish to abandon the war, however, then it can be arranged—"

Shirou shook his head violently. The doubt was gone. The fear was gone. There was only hard resolve. "I'm not going anywhere. The Fuyuki Fire...something like that should never have happened. If that was caused by this war, then I will be a Master. To make sure nothing like that ever happens again, I'll win the Grail."

Kotomine raised an eyebrow. "Are you certain you wish to be confirmed as the seventh Master, then?"

"Yes," Shirou said. "I am the seventh Master."

Kotomine smiled slightly, and bowed his head, folding his hands behind his back. "Then it shall be so. Henceforth, the Fifth Holy Grail War, as supervised by the Church—and I, Kirei Kotomine—shall begin. Once you have left the confines of this church tonight, you may not return unless you have lost your Servant and wish to seek sanctuary from other Masters." He looked at Rin, then back to Shirou. "Are there any more questions that you two have for me?"

"How many other magi are Masters in this war, and what order were the Servants summoned in?" Rin asked.

"Berserker was first, then Caster." Kotomine replied. "The rest proceeded as normal, with Saber being summoned this evening." For the first time since they had set foot in the church, he actually looked at Lenneth for a brief moment, then back to Rin. "Including Shirou Emiya, there are three magi that are masters."

Rin put a fist to her mouth and hummed for a moment, then nodded briskly. "I see." She reached over to the back of the nearest pew, where she'd let her red overcoat rest, and shrugged it back on, then walked straight out of the Church. Shirou almost called out to her, but she was through the door by the time he could master his tongue to speak.

"We should go as well, Master," Lenneth said.

Shirou looked at her, and managed to nod, swallowing the lingering thoughts of the fire and the reality of what he had just done by entering the War.

He could not turn back now, but he did not want to, either.

Kiritsugu had abandoned idealism, but those idealistic dreams were all that Shirou could grasp onto after the fire had burned away everything else inside of his heart. The Grail War was something Kiritsugu would have opposed if he were still alive, so Shirou would have to do the same to live up to what he believed Kiritsugu had been once.

"Thank you for explaining everything," Shirou said to Kotomine. "I'll be going now." With that, he and Lenneth walked to the door, but as he pushed it open, Kotomine spoke once more.

"Rejoice, Shirou Emiya. Your wish will be granted."

Shirou froze again.

Kotomine, oblivious to this, continued speaking. "I saw the shadow of the Fuyuki Fire burning in those eyes of yours, boy. You did say that you did not want 'something like that to happen again', did you not? Surely you must realize it. As distasteful as you find this Grail War, it has given you a chance to prevent great catastrophe, to save others from potentially suffering as you did."

Kotomine smiled again, but this time, a hint of tooth showed. Shirou did not turn to face the priest, but still felt so violently ill that he wanted to collapse where he stood. Yet, Kotomine kept talking, ignoring the visible shaking of Shirou's body. "This Grail War has allowed you to realize your desire to be a hero. And a hero must face a villain to be called a hero, must he not?" He chuckled again. "Take care on your way home. You are a Master now. You walk with death now more so than you ever have before as a magus."

Shirou sucked in a harsh breath, pushed the door violently, and stormed out of the church. Lenneth took two steps forward, but stood in the doorway, propping open the door with one hand, and stared back at Kotomine, who met her gaze with the same amused smile.

"Your life shall be forfeit at the end of this war, Kirei Kotomine," she said to him. "Your soul is as black as Hel itself, and yet you play at being a priest, offering truths that hurt men's hearts and twist the meaning of your 'profession'. Never have I witnessed such a disgusting falsehood in all my days, and never have I let such falsehoods lay for long."

Without waiting for his reply, she left. When the door closed, Kotomine turned his back and looked at the altar. The smile finally faded from his face, leaving what could truly only be called an empty frown. "Indeed, Saber, my soul is black. And I live only to try and determine why it is so."

* * *

"I hate that man," Shirou said to Lenneth as soon as she was outside of the church. "I don't think...I've ever hated anyone like I hate that man."

Lenneth looked back at the door of the church, and shook her head. "He will trouble us none for now. Let's return to your home. If nothing else, his warning of other Masters was a fair one." Here, she glanced ahead, and saw Rin and Archer standing at the point where the hill's gradual slope downward began, only a few feet away from where Lenneth and Shirou were standing now.

"Now you see why I don't like dealing with Kirei, Emiya-kun," Rin said to Shirou. "And if you can believe it, that was him being nice. When he's on a roll, he just says more and more politely obnoxious things until you want to deck him in the face." She shook her head and sighed. "At any rate, I believe our little deal is effectively over. The truce stands till the end of tonight, but the next time I see you after this, we will be enemies. Naturally, I don't intend to fight you during the daytime, but any time after that, you may find your life at risk." She smiled tightly, but both Shirou and Lenneth got the feeling that it was a little bit put on. "Now, shall we stop standing around out here? It's rather cold and I'd like to go home."

"You make it sound like you want to walk back with us," Shirou said. "Pretty friendly thing to do with an 'enemy', don't you think?"

Rin's lip twitched upward at the teasing. "We happen to be going in the same direction. It's just convenient, all right?"

Shirou grinned to himself and began to walk, letting Lenneth follow behind him. Archer snorted in annoyance before astralizing and vanishing from plain sight, following Rin as she quickly walked on the other side of Shirou.

Conversation was kept to a surprising minimum until they came to the crosswalk that led to the bridge that would take them back to Miyama. At that point, Rin stopped, leaving Shirou to start walking towards the bridge with Lenneth for a few moments. Eventually, he realized that Rin had stopped walking alongside them, and turned back. "What's the matter, Tohsaka?"

"I won't be going home after all. Even if we don't start fighting until tomorrow, I want to take a look around Shintou tonight. I think it'll be informative." She fixed Shirou with a heavy stare. "You can go back home by yourself, right? Just be careful. You may have Saber, but you're not the kind of magus equipped to act as proper backup. If you get in over your head, leave the heavy work to Saber and worry more about making sure you don't die. In the worst case scenario, at least swallow your pride and run to that fake priest for protection."

Shirou shook his head. "Saber's my partner. I know my own limits, but I won't abandon her that easily either." Despite the way Rin was looking at him, he smiled anyway. "I know you said we were even, Tohsaka, but I still want to thank you for doing all of this. You really went out of your way to help out. It's not the kind of behavior I'd expected from you, considering your reputation at school (_calling you a__ustere would be an understatement, _he thought to himself), but I like this side of you a lot. If I had a choice, I'd much rather be friends than enemies."

Rin flushed bright red, and though he knew Shirou couldn't see it, Archer pressed a hand to his face and groaned. _That boy just loves to shove his foot down his throat,_ he said, though since he was astralized only Rin could properly hear him._ Only he would flirt with an enemy Master so cluelessly._

"Shut up, Archer," Rin hissed under her breath.

The moment might have gotten more awkward if Shirou's left hand hadn't suddenly felt like it was dipped into a furnace. He hissed in discomfort, then remembered that the last time he'd felt something like this was right before Rin showed up. Lenneth, on the other hand, had turned around moments before Shirou's Command Spells had started reacting; a flash of light banished her casual clothing, and she was once more in armor, her blade drawn and pointed to the crest of the hill behind them. Shirou and Rin quickly about-faced to see what she was looking at, and were greeted with an awful sight.

Under the light of the full moon, there stood a giant man, built with muscles denser than steel and a wild mane of black hair streaming behind him. Steel bands circled his wrists, and he wore what appeared to be an armored loincloth. One of his eyes was a complete blood red, while the other was a hawkish yellow-orange color, and his entire face was carved out of solid rock; he clenched a large slab of stone in his right hand, shaped crudely like a sword. At his side stood a small girl in a long, elaborate purple dress, wearing a pale lavender scarf. Her eyes were blood-red, and platinum blonde hair spilled out from the short cap that she wore.

"Hello there, big brother," the girl said. "It looks like you summoned it after all. That's good to see."

"That size and frame...that's probably Berserker," Rin murmured to herself, ignoring the girl. "Archer. Get ready."

_Already ahead of you, Rin, _Archer replied. _I'll do what I can to suppress him when I can. _

"Who...are you?" Shirou managed to ask the girl, raising his voice just enough to carry up the hill. "What do you want?"

The girl gathered the edges of her dress and performed a Western curtsey, then smiled again. "My name is Ilyasviel von Einzbern, but you can call me Ilya for short if you like. As for what I want, well..." She laughed a little bit, and shook her head slightly. "I'm sure you can imagine."

Rin let out a very sharp, vile curse that made Shirou stop and stare at her for a moment. "Einzbern...? One of the founding families. Of course, when it rains, it pours."

Ilya's smile grew wider, and she patted the leg of the man-mountain behind her with a soft affection that matched her appearance. "Go on ahead, Berserker. Crush them."

Berserker roared, and leaped from the hill, raising his axe-sword.

Lenneth clenched her left hand into a fist, then stepped to the side as Berserker crashed down where she'd been standing. As she flew back, she swung that free hand outward, opening up the fist, and a glint of light flew from her palm. When it struck Berserker, the giant froze in place momentarily, as if he'd been shocked, but seemed to shake off whatever had happened and turned to swing at Lenneth with his massive sword. However, that one second of delay had been all that was needed, as several needles of light rained down on Berserker's exposed back. Shirou realized that it must have been Archer that launched those attacks, but despite the solid impact, Berserker did not stop, and slammed his sword down, fully intending to crush Lenneth under its weight. Lenneth gripped her sword with two hands and neatly stopped the blow before it could hit home with a strike of her own, causing a deafening clang of metal against stone. Two of the shields that had defended her against Lancer's attacks began to float around her body, and her expression remained deadly calm.

_Crystals can freeze him in place, but only for a moment, _she thought to herself. _If I had a way of better coordinating with Archer without having to alert Ilya to my plans, then I could perhaps make that work out._ She frowned, realizing another issue she was running into; Berserker had the advantage here, as his axe-sword was large enough to let him out-range her if he so chose to, and the momentum he could build up with his strikes would not allow her to block much longer.

She would have to fight smarter. Maybe, if possible, change the environment as well.

In her mind's eye, she recalled something she'd seen on the way up to the church; a cemetery, full of gravestones.

Perhaps that place...

Berserker roared once more, and swung again. Lenneth responded in the same manner, but this time, after repelling him, broke into a sudden low slide that took her under his legs, enabling her to avoid another blow. While he was overextended, she slashed at his leg with a clean one-handed strike, then came out of her slide and assaulted his back with several strong and fast blows, both one and two-handed.

Rin gaped in surprise at the maneuver, as did Shirou, and they were both even more surprised when Lenneth then jumped over the next swing Berserker aimed at her, and actually landed on his shoulder—but only for a moment. When she sprang off from there, another salvo of Archer's arrows hit the spot where she'd been standing, and she spun around in midair to deliver a two-handed slash right to the spot where the arrows had shattered on top of Berserker's shoulder.

"His skin is too thick," Shirou muttered to himself. "This isn't like fighting Lancer. She won't be able to do anything to him like this."

"And Archer isn't able to do much either," Rin said. She reached into her coat pocket with a scowl. "Damn, I'll have to use one of those..."

Ilya, however, was not as impressed, and if anything, seemed frustrated by the fact that Berserker could not seem to pin down Lenneth, who kept dodging and evading the majority of his wide swings. Her fists were balled up at her sides, and right as she got ready to shout an order at Berserker, Lenneth suddenly made a leap away from the battlefield, going off the side of the road and up the hill.

Berserker followed without hesitation, leaping to the chase, and so too did Shirou and Rin, running as quickly as they could.

* * *

By the time the Masters had caught up with Lenneth and Berserker, the two Servants had made their way to the graveyard that Lenneth had seen behind the church, and the battle had begun anew—but this time, Lenneth held the edge.

Berserker's wild swings were restricted by the gravestones, and even when he decimated them to rubble, Lenneth would throw more of the mysterious glints of light, except that she was no longer aiming them at Berserker, but at the ground, or at the ruins of gravestones. When one glint hit a solid surface, a transparent blue crystal would form on the site of impact; when another glint hit an existing crystal, the crystal would grow larger, creating one more obstacle for Berserker to swing through.

And whenever she got the chance, Lenneth was swinging back at him, trying to test the limits of his skin. She had not broken it in the slightest yet, but at the same time, she could tell that Berserker was clearly off balance. If things continued in this vein, though, she would truly have to stop holding back. Her physical power alone was not enough to hurt him.

She did not wish to use one of her Noble Phantasms yet, but if it came to it, she would do so. There was already significantly less risk in doing so, considering that though she was a Heroic Spirit, her abilities would not be so easily recognized. Still, if she tipped her hand so early while Rin or Archer were around, it would undoubtedly cause no end of trouble later.

She leaped over another swing from Berserker, and mentally assessed her energy levels. She had enough prana to execute one of her stronger techniques if she truly wanted to, but not at a level beyond the "first", at least not without leaving herself with no extra reserve. The crystals she'd been throwing were a negligible drain on her prana resources, as was the armor conversion from earlier, but she couldn't keep it up forever.

_Then I'll use it,_ she thought to herself._ "Nibelung Valesti One". The moment Berserker puts himself off balance, I'll do it. _

She slid under a swing from Berserker, and when she got to her feet, dodged another one. This time, his axe-sword hit the ground, and stayed stuck there for a moment. In a flash, her left hand went out and flung a crystal at him, and sure enough, he was not able to dodge it. His body froze again, and Lenneth immediately began to gather up her power.

"It shall be engraved upon your soul!" she shouted. The force of the command gave Rin and Shirou pause, as the force of her prana gathering up in her body exploded up and out in a green aura. "Divine Assault—!"

But then, she sensed it. Something far behind her, something foul, something that screamed DANGER DANGER DANGER.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Shirou moving toward her, saying something, but it wasn't necessary for him to bother. In one moment, her sword was sheathed. In another, the crook of her arm was locked around Shirou's stomach and waist. In yet another, she had leaped away from Berserker, who had just begun to move again—

And a hell descended upon Berserker without warning.

Just like that, the graveyard and Berserker's massive figure were consumed by fire.

Rin had already retreated, and Lenneth landed next to her, easing Shirou down. For his part, Shirou couldn't help but stare numbly at the conflagration that had consumed the spot where Berserker had been standing. If Lenneth's reaction time hadn't been so high, she would have died, and it was just as likely that he would have, too, if he had made it to her. He would have been eaten alive by the fire before he could even blink.

She had saved him, and could have died in doing so. Was he truly so worthless that he couldn't protect even his own partner?

Lenneth didn't give him time to consider that, as she drew her sword once more with a slow shake of her head. "That damned Berserker did not fall from that?" She gripped her sword with both hands again, and her prana surged once more.

Before she could declare her attack, though, Ilya's voice sounded over the blaze. "Berserker, that's enough. Come back."

Rin, Shirou, and Lenneth saw Berserker's massive body shift within the fire, then fade.

"Your Archer is impressive, Miss Tohsaka, and so is big brother's Saber," Ilya said. "So for now, I'll let you and big brother go. But next time...next time, you might not be so lucky."

"Next time, I will defeat your Servant," Lenneth replied. "He will not stand against me again."

If Ilya heard Lenneth's threat, she did not respond. Rin, however, sighed, and shook her head. "You're terribly overconfident for someone that couldn't damage Berserker no matter how hard she swung at him." She stared at the fire for a few moments longer, then turned away, walking back down the hill. "Einzbern may be leaving us alone at the moment, but I don't know if it'll stay that way. Emiya-kun, Saber, go home. Don't waste time on anything unnecessary or you might be caught flat-footed again."

Shirou nodded. "The same goes for you too, though. Right? Or are you one of those types that tells other people 'do as I say and not as I do'?"

"I'm actually capable of defending myself," Rin said, her face flushing red at Shirou's teasing. "You're not. But at any rate, it's late, and what I said still stands. Go home, and remember that the next time we meet, we'll be enemies."

Shirou sighed and shrugged. "Whatever you say, Tohsaka. Good luck, and be careful." He nodded in Lenneth's direction, and she immediately fell into step behind him as they walked back to the main road. Rin simply stared in the direction of the still-burning blaze, then sent a telepathic message to her Servant. _Good job, Archer._

Unsurprisingly, his response was just a little bit smug. _"Did you expect anything less from me, Rin?"_

* * *

When Shirou and Lenneth finally arrived back at the house, they both let out small sighs of relief. However, Shirou was not expecting Lenneth to break her own composure like that, and turned to her with clear confusion written on his face.

"I was not exactly equipped to take on Berserker, Shirou," she said, replying to his unasked question. "I'm sure you noticed how little damage my blows did to him." She frowned, and closed her eyes, changing back into her regular clothes with a small flash. When Shirou took his shoes off at the door, she took off her boots, too, and walked with him to the dining room table. They sat across from each other just like before, as if they'd been doing it their whole lives, and Lenneth continued. "I dislike saying it like this, but the fact of the matter is that we do not have a proper bond as Master and Servant. I think it is your lack of training as a magus that is responsible for this, and is probably the cause of my inability to take astral form like Rin's Archer."

Shirou scratched his head, puzzling over what she could have meant by a bond. After a moment, he recalled some basic things his father had once told him about familiars. If Servants were effectively large-scale familiars, then they would have a lot of the basic needs that familiars would, which would include magical energy from the master (or Master, in this case). "Do you mean that you can't get prana through our link?"

Lenneth nodded. "I did not need use much of my power tonight, but I am limited to my own personal pool of energy. If I were to use my full strength I would drain my own power, and it would not recover quickly." Her expression became thoughtful as she closed her eyes again. Shirou felt his Command Spells heat up slightly on the back of his hand as she sat like that for a few moments. When she opened her eyes again, she nodded once, and sighed. "The link is most definitely there, though. I think it may be possible to set this right, but it will be a very taxing affair for me. Do you have any books that speak on the subject of magic as it is practiced here?"

Shirou shook his head. "I don't. What little I learned, I learned from Dad. Tohsaka might have something like that, though."

Lenneth clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and stared off into space. "We shan't rely on her. She may be a kindhearted sort, but I have no desire for you to be in any more debt to her, and she has already declared herself your enemy. She gives me the impression of a cat ready to pounce at the worst possible time. I shall simply have to endeavor to understand on my own. It will be difficult, but I'm counting on you, Shirou."

Her tone of voice was warm, and her slight smile seemed to shine. Shirou couldn't help but reciprocate with a smile of his own. "W-well, sure. But how are you gonna do this if you don't know anything about how magic works?"

"One of my personal skills will allow me to analyze your body in closer detail than mere sight alone, and once I can perceive it properly, I can alter whatever is broken, if it's within my current limits," Lenneth said. "As I said, it will be taxing and time-consuming. I will have to work very slowly because of my reduced ranking in the skill, but I believe that I will be able to understand and resolve the issue given enough time."

Shirou blinked, clearly not understanding what she was talking about when she mentioned personal skills, and Lenneth read the puzzlement on his face easily. She raised a hand and placed her palm on Shirou's forehead. "Close your eyes and relax. You will understand in short order."

Shirou did so, and after a while, a strange warmth that wasn't just the feeling of her palm on his forehead began to seep into his brain. Then, his mind was filled with several strange images for a moment, but all of them were indelibly burned into his memory. He saw letters and gauges and paragraphs of information that he couldn't read because of how quickly they flashed by, and in the space of a breath, his eyes were open again.

He blinked, grimacing in confusion.

Lenneth frowned slightly, removed her hand, and asked, "My apologies, Shirou. Did it hurt? The way my status is represented to you is done in a way that you can understand, so I can't explain very much about what exactly you saw."

Shirou shook his head. "I just need a second. I think everything's there, I just have to...try to organize it." He closed his eyes again and tried to concentrate on the images again. They reappeared, but this time, did not flash by, and had in fact organized themselves visually into a more understandable format.

There was a "page" in his mind's eye now, entitled "Saber", and the gauges and words that he had seen before were now organized as if he were reading a dossier of some sort, placed in two neat columns near the center and the bottom, clearly evaluating traits like "Strength" and "Endurance". There was a picture of a helmeted Lenneth staring straight at him on one corner of the "page" and her physical statistics, as well as information like her Master's name and her true name, were placed roughly in the center, just above the gauges. The top-left corner of the page had the names of the seven Servant classes listed in a neat column.

Shirou opened his eyes, and rubbed the bridge of his nose, overcome by weariness. Lenneth gave Shirou a calculating glance, then shook her head. "I think that we have spoken enough on this for now. Your eyes speak of great weariness. Go to bed, Shirou. We will talk more when you have rested, and I will better explain what I may be able to do."

Shirou nodded, and got up. "Where will you sleep?"

"I would prefer a room close enough to yours that I would be able to defend you if something happened in the night," Lenneth replied, standing as well. "Aside from that, I have no great need to rest. I am a Servant, after all."

Shirou turned toward the hallway where his room was. "I've got just the place for you," he said. "Come on."

* * *

_That night, with the warmth of his Command Spells seeping into his left hand and the silence of his empty room around him, Shirou dreamed._

_He saw Lenneth walking on a simple, clean dirt path through a beautiful field, dressed in clothes far finer than her normal casual wear—a blue vest with long tails and long, light-blue sleeves. She wore another, longer brown dress beneath it, and simple shoes with white leggings. Her gait was calm and unhurried, but at the same time, her concentration was focused entirely on the castle she saw on the horizon._

_When at last she arrived there, a girl in a blue and brown leotard of sorts and a matching brown hat hugged Lenneth. The girl spoke to Lenneth cheerfully, and Lenneth responded in kind, but Shirou couldn't hear a word of their conversation._

_At length, the girl allowed Lenneth to pass, and Shirou saw Lenneth enter into a magnificent throne room, with a vaulted ceiling. At the top of a set of stairs in front of her, there was a throne, and on that throne sat a man with short silver hair, dressed in a silver, black-striped outfit and a red mantle. He regarded Lenneth with cool, calm eyes as he leaned back in his throne, and Shirou immediately felt a dislike for this man, even as Lenneth respectfully dropped to bended knee before him._

_Another woman, blonde like the girl Lenneth had met outside, but with her hair flowing freely instead of braided and with a green version of that girl's outfit, floated in the air above Lenneth. In what appeared to be a warping of space, this woman then appeared directly in front of Lenneth and hugged her as well, saying more words that Shirou couldn't hear._

_Then, both Lenneth and the woman faced the man on the throne, and after listening to him speak for a while, the blonde woman placed a hand on Lenneth's heart, and Lenneth kneeled again. Light flashed, and when it dissipated, Lenneth stood up again, clad in her armor with her sword at her side. The blonde woman then raised her hand, and both she and Lenneth disappeared in the same warping ripple of space. _

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_This one is a bit longer than the last couple of one-shots I've been putting out, but at the same time it's been the one I was able to work on the most out of the ones I've been juggling. It was really exciting, but it also required a lot of research, and even so I'm probably fudging some of the details at least half by accident and half by design. Something I do not particularly like about Nasu's works is their propensity for being obtusely wordy, even in supplemental material. On the one hand, it does enhance the feeling of a mystery that surrounds magic, and gives the impression that this is something people can't understand easily, but it makes writing fan work kind of difficult because it's very easy to misinterpret something that you've read._

_I am aware that by the rules of the Nasuverse, this kind of summoning couldn't happen (Heroic Spirits have to have actually existed, after all, and Valkyrie Profile is most definitely not the way that the Norse world was even in the Nasuverse), but when I thought about what kind of Fate/stay night story I would like to write, the usual formula "Shirou summons another Servant, one-shot" was the first thing that came to mind. So by that logic, I wouldn't like this to be considered a "hard" attempt at actually crossing these two series over, but more like something done for my own amusement. _

_I have roughly conceptualized two other Valkyrie Profile/Fate crossover shorts like this, featuring Hrist and Silmeria respectively. At the moment, I don't really feel up to writing them, but depending on the reception of this one, I might be interested in getting them down and posting them. Since it's not clear from context in the story itself, I'll clarify it here: the Lenneth that you see here is the Lenneth that became the Lord of Creation in the A Ending of Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, then traveled back in time to stop Lezard in Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria. The ending of the latter game ties very heavily into why the Grail was able to call her to Shirou's side._

_Lenneth's status sheet is going up here mostly because I don't have any actual intention of going farther with this particular story at the moment. Since I wrote the status sheet with an eye for being able to continue this story if I absolutely had to, I will admit that certain Personal Skills and Noble Phantasms were interpreted the way they were to serve the vague plot that I came up with to segue out of this one-shot. While I would like to think that I'd be able to manage it without much trouble, I am admittedly worried that I may have pushed it a little too far in terms of what Lenneth can/could do, but I'll leave that up to you all to decide._

_On the non one-shot related front, I am working on a draft first chapter for Bellflowers and Wagtails' second part. I know people are clamoring for a sequel to that (and to Substitute School), but I don't quite feel confident in my ability to pull it off, and I'm afraid I'd lose what made the first part good for some people. Longer, multi-chapter stories have been getting harder for me to write effectively because of real life responsibilities that I have to take care of, and given the choice between leaving a work good yet unfinished or finished and sub-par, I would rather go with the former than the latter. _

_So right now, what will happen with fan fiction for me is still up in the air. I might find my spark by the middle or end of summer, and maybe have a good work to show you all, but I won't say for sure right now._

_At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this one. Take care, and see you all next time._

_~ZS_

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_Servant Status Sheet_

_Remarks within parentheses are not included in Shirou's version of the Status Sheet. Also be aware that this information is not precisely synchronous with what Shirou can actually see on the Status Sheet when he looks up Lenneth; for instance, he knows absolutely nothing about any of her Noble Phantasms, nor is he aware of her 'last name'._

Class: Saber

True Name: Lenneth Valkyrie

Master: Shirou Emiya

Alignment: Neutral Good

Other Titles: Chooser of the Slain, Lord of Creation

Strength: C+

Endurance: C

Agility: B+

Mana: B

Luck: B

Noble Phantasm: B

Class Skills:

_Magic Resistance: B_

Cancels spells with a chant below three verses. Even if targeted by _High Thaumaturgy _and _Greater Rituals,_ Lenneth is difficult to affect with spells of this level.

_Riding: A+_

Creatures on the level of Phantasmal and Divine Beasts may be used as mounts, excepting members of Dragon Kind.

Personal Skills:

_Right of the Lord of Creation: C+ _(Lenneth's original ranking in this Skill is _EX_, which it cannot maintain outside of her own world. Further incompetence on her Master's part has restricted it further.)

As one that wields the power of creation, Lenneth can perceive every existence in the world, physical or not, in its "true form", and manipulate whatever she wants to manipulate within that object, whether it is a person or a thing. However, the scale of change she can affect is linked heavily to the ranking she possesses in the skill. To perform feats on the level of High Thaumaturgy, an A-ranking would be the absolute minimum requirement, and even then would leave Lenneth drained. Also, perceiving an object's "true form" does not provide instant understanding of it; Lenneth must study it in order to fully comprehend how it works. Lower ranks in this skill also make it difficult for the perception to come through clearly without long periods of concentration.

_Eye of the Mind (False): A_

An innate talent to sense and avoid danger based on intuition.

_Divinity: A (_As a Valkyrie, Lenneth was effectively a Divine Spirit, but she was placed into the body of a half-elven homunculus in order to survive a fatal wound. Therefore, while her body is "blessed" with a divine essence, it is "physically mortal" to a certain extent. If she were to lose her title as Lord of Creation, her Divinity would lose ranking as well.)

_Charisma: A_

Can be said to have achieved the greatest level of popularity.

Noble Phantasms:

_Glance Reviver: The Sword that Embodies Creation_

_Rank: A_

_Type: Anti-Unit_

A sword created by Lenneth's ascent to the throne of the Lord of Creation. It possess the ability to wield the raw and primal forces of creation, and enhances her ability to use these forces so long as she carries the sword, enabling her to perform minor miracles in conjunction with her Personal Skill _Right of the Lord of Creation._

_Nibelung Valesti: Divine Skill That Purifies Weird Souls_

_Rank: A_

_Type: Anti-Unit_

The ultimate strike of the Valkyries, the one technique that Lenneth shares with her sisters Hrist and Silmeria. Each Valkyrie can perform it at three different "levels". For Lenneth, it is a rushing series of four sword strikes, followed by the creation of three spears which pierce the enemy. This is where the "first level" ends. The "second" and "third" levels require Lenneth to manifest one extra, larger spear in her hand, which she then throws down at the enemy. It is only during the "third" level of the technique that the thrown spear has its maximum effect, wherein it explodes in a torrent of raw energy after impact.

This technique was made to cleanse evil and remove spirits from the mortal plane. As such, it experiences a boost in power when used against spiritual beings or against existences that are considered "unnatural" or "impure", such as the undead. It could be said to be a prime tool for killing Servants, as they are spiritual beings, but it is not particularly cost-efficient even at level "one".

_Einherjar: The Chosen Slain_

_Rank: B_

_Type: Support_

As a Valkyrie, Lenneth possesses the right to judge human souls based on their deeds in life. If she deems them worthy and if they consent, she may take their soul into her own body, making them her Einherjar. Within the context of the Grail War, this ability allows her to use this Noble Phantasm on Servants, effectively choosing them as her Einherjar. There is no limit to the number of Einherjar that she may store within herself.

Passively, this Noble Phantasm allows Lenneth to sense the souls of humans and human-like beings in a wide radius around her, roughly 300 feet in any given direction. Even if the Phantasm is somehow sealed, it is impossible for Lenneth to lose this ability, as it is a skill intrinsic to her as Lenneth Valkyrie.

However, there are a number of restrictions to the actual use of this Noble Phantasm. First and foremost, the Servant must be slain within a 100-foot radius of Lenneth, and second, they must consent to become an Einherjar of their own free will. Moreover, the Servants that she chooses as Einherjar do not have their own Spiritual Cores, as the Grail absorbs those for its own use. The soul of the Servant is extracted from the Spiritual Core and absorbed into Lenneth's own.

In combat situations, Lenneth can only project one Einherjar at a time without severely reducing her own combat effectiveness, and simply manifesting an Einherjar will sap her prana continuously, albeit at much lower levels than if the Einherjar were actually engaged in combat. If Lenneth runs too low on prana or is defeated, her Einherjar will fade as well.

Because the Grail has already absorbed the Spiritual Cores of these Einherjar, they are not considered to be Servants or pseudo-Servants. When the Phantasm is activated, an Einherjar is manifested at the "fullest strength" that Lenneth has the capacity to sustain, which can actually boost the Servant's statistics significantly. However, to minimize strain on Lenneth, only one Noble Phantasm that the Einherjar would normally use can be used at its full power, while the others would retain a lesser effect and probably could not be used or dismissed at will. However, as a result of sealing the Einherjar's other Phantasms, their "primary" Noble Phantasm is given the same properties as Lenneth's _Nibelung Valesti,_ being extra effective against spirits and impure beings.


End file.
